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Minutes of the Meeting
December 3, 1996
DePaul Center, Chicago

Present: Alan Barney, Doris Brown, Barbara Conant, Jim Fox, Cecile Jagodzinski, Adrian Jones, Allen Lanham, Bob Malinowsky (Vice-Chair), Tom Peters (Chair), Mary Schellhorn, Karen Schmidt

Absent: Marlene Deuel, Cheryl Elzy (Program Director), Bernie Fradkin, Suzan McGinnis, Alan Nourie, Jane Rishel, Jill Cold

A meeting of the Cooperative Collection Management Coordinating Committee (CCMCC), the governing body of the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (CCMP), was held at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3, 1996 at the DePaul Center in downtown Chicago. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the FY97 grant proposals.

New Members

Chair Tom Peters welcomed two new members of the Committee: Adrian Jones (Roosevelt University) and Mary Schellhorn (Columbia College), who were attending their first meeting. Jill Word (Waubonsee Community College) is the new representative for the community colleges, but was unable to attend.

Grant Proposals

The Committee received five grant proposals this year, down from the seventeen received last year, despite the earlier notice of the availability of funds. Committee members noted that, as usual, grant submissions depend heavily on the initiative of individual librarians and on their personal contacts; there was no resolution of the question of whether the Committee should play a more active role in directing the process or encouraging other (especially smaller) libraries to apply. The proposals received are listed below, with the name of the host library and the amount of the request:
  1. Collection of Print and Non-Print Materials in Post-Colonial Literature, Cultures and Art (Northern Illinois University, $35,000)
  2. Expansion of the Biosciences Model Discipline (University of Illinois at Chicago, $14,000)
  3. Illinois School Reform Resource Locator (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, $13,740)
  4. Materials Technology Model Discipline Project (Eastern Illinois University, $65,500)
  5. Subscription to Chadwyck-Healey's PCI Database Contents Index on the World Wide Web (Loyola University, $40,000)
The requests totalled $168,240; there is approximately $182,878 available in this year's budget (see attachment). Initial discussions revolved around whether the Committee should set aside money for a survey on "pockets of excellence" in the state, as suggested by the Model Discipline bibliographers, or for other projects, such as collection evaluation or support for electronic products. Because the amount of HECA money is relatively small, given the total collections dollars of the 42 member libraries, the Committee felt it important to use the grant funds, not only to support collections directly, but to help libraries and librarians communicate with one another and to reaffirm the need to work cooperatively in collection development matters.

Allen Lanham presented and explained the results of the scoring (tabulated once again, with statistical aplomb, by the staff of Testing Services at Eastern Illinois University). Directors of CCMP libraries and members of the Committee were invited to judge the proposals; 31 (out of 52) responded.

The Committee, with several reservations and suggestions, approved the following grant proposals:

  1. Collection of Print and Non-Print Materials in Post-Colonial Literature, Cultures and Art (Northern Illinois University, $35,000). The Committee agreed to fund this proposal for the full amount, but expressed concern about the selection of countries covered, and the omission of several strong collections/libraries in the state. The submitters of this proposal will be asked to reconsider the framework of their proposal, including the amounts allocated to each geographic area.

  2. Illinois School Reform Resource Locator (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, $13,740). This proposal was scored the highest by respondents. The Committee, however, expressed some concern about the apparent isolation from the Model Discipline project in Education and an earlier project funded by the CCMP, the Illinois Learning Web (emanating from the University of Illinois at Chicago). The Committee agreed to fund this project in full, but will charge the submitters of this grant with creating a broader vision of the Model Disciplines, a model which will include materials in all formats, links to other resources (such as ERIC), contacts with key non-librarians and experts in the field, and the identification of resources throughout the state. The CCMP will fund a meeting for the Education Model Discipline bibliographers which will allow them to expand on the initial discussions held at their November 21 meeting. The Committee also decided that the project would prove most effective if a consultant was hired for the short term (through the end of June) to lead the group and to produce a "blue-sky"' vision for this program.

  3. Materials Technology Model Discipline Project (Eastern Illinois University, $65,500). The Committee approved this project and awarded the full amount to the six participating libraries. The subject area and collections are directly related to the present and historical concerns of the Illinois economy, and coincide with the strategic needs of the state, the goals of the Board of Higher Education, and the curricula in the affected institutions.

The Committee did not approve the following proposals:

  1. Expansion of the Biosciences Model Discipline (University of Illinois at Chicago, $14,000).

    Though the Committee agreed that this seemed a logical codicil to the CCMP's past two years' support of the Biosciences, it was concerned about the precedent this set for infinite expansion of individual model disciplines. The Committee also perceived a need to include more than two libraries in this type of project. It was agreed, however, that the Biosciences bibliographers should participate in the meeting suggested above for the Education bibliographers.

    In further discussion on this aspect of the model disciplines, it was decided to reserve $15,000 of FY97 monies for the Model Discipline bibliographers' meeting and for the stipend for the aforementioned consultant. The consultant, who will be expected to have expertise in collection management issues (though not necessarily in Education or Bioscience), will facilitate discussions on the Model Disciplines at this meeting; he or she should be creative and visionary, have writing and technological skills, be able to work within a deadline, be able to listen, elicit responses, and synthesize opinion and comment. The project is to be completed by June 30.

  2. Subscription to Chadwyck-Healey's PCI Database Contents Index on the World Wide Web (Loyola University, $40,000). Although there was high interest in this proposal, the Committee decided that the amount of support suggested ($1,000 per library) was not high enough to entice individual libraries to subscribe. However, because of the CCMP's focus on obtaining consortia! pricing for member libraries, the Committee will pursue this project with Chadwyck-Healey and offer subscriptions to PCI as an option to members.

IACRL Continuing Education Committee Meeting

Tom Peters returned with more information on the proposed collaboration with the IACRL Continuing Education Committee on their spring conference. The CCMP will not provide financial support, but will assist with program arrangements, contributing speakers and programs on collection evaluation and collection development.

The meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Cecile M. Jagodzinski